tashoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 12,314
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Post by tashoya on Jun 6, 2020 23:07:04 GMT -5
A solemn day, indeed. The two men I knew that were there, sadly, passed nearly 12 and 15 years ago, respectively. I remain in awe of what those young men did and the fact that they knew what they were going into prior to landing makes it all the more remarkable. They changed our world for the better. That's not hyperbole. The sacrifice is still, nearly, incomprehensible. But the impact those men had will live as long as we continue to support the ideals for which they fought. May we honor their sacrifices and their memories well.
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tashoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 12,314
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Post by tashoya on Jun 6, 2020 23:11:15 GMT -5
Agreed. My father lost his dad at 10 and was oldest son in a family of six growing up in Buffalo, NY. Attended Vo-Tech high school before being drafted. He basically worked full time since age ten and only went to college because of the GI Bill. oil Despite his WWII service he could not get a job with the FBI because of Hoover's discriminatory hiring practices. He couldn't buy a house in Virginia because of restrictive covenants. I remember not being able to get hotel rooms in the South when he'd take us on summer vacations from SF to Florida in the 1960s. His federal service began in WWII and effectively ended when he was choppered off the US Embassy roof in Saigon on April 30. 1975, retiring two years later. So yes, we've had it better but that is not guaranteed to last. Thank you for sharing this. Sadly, we're seeing how little has actually changed. |
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tashoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 12,314
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Post by tashoya on Jun 6, 2020 23:13:58 GMT -5
Interesting - both my father (and I) grew up in Buffalo as well. Any opinion (yours or maybe your father’s) on the accuracy of Frank Snepp’s Decent Interval on the last days of Saigon? My father went to the University of Buffalo, a German major as he spent 3(?) years as part of the occupation force and earned the language. He worked with Frank Snepp. I have my father's annotated copy of the book (he's in it not by name but identified only by a vague description). Generally, a correct history setting aside Snepp's narcissism. My father was a Cold Warrior, a Republican, and he didn't believe in cutting and running. He rolled into Berlin victorious in WWII and at the zenith of American power in 20th century. It disgusted him that the Agency and USG couldn't honor our promise to evacuate the local personnel when Saigon fell, the nadir of American power. One of the last things he did was distribute US dollars to his "locals" with an Agency number to call if they survived and somehow got out of Vietnam. My junior year at Georgetown we had one of his "locals" and her family living in the basement of our house as we had sponsored them out of Indiantown Gap, PA, relocation camp. When he retired, we had to persuade him to attend his own retirement ceremony to receive the Career Intelligence Medal from DCI William Colby. He was quite bitter about the way that war ended. I've read many books about the evacuation and there is an excellent film about it, "The Last Days of Saigon" which has some excellent interviews of some of the last folks out. www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lastdays/By sheer coicidence. I was part of the DOJ defense team when the US was sued over the tragic Operation Babylift C-5A crash before the fall of Saigon. I also went back to Buffalo when I defended the US in an environmental law suit arising out of contamination at the Lake Ontario Ordinance Works. PS I visited Alsace-Lorraine four years ago where my father fought and visited the American Cemetary in Epinal. He was in the 16th Ordinance Maintenance Company, Third Army. My plans to visit Normandy this summer were scuttled by the pandemic. Your father must have been one tough guy to have fought at Saint-Lo. This is the best thing I've ever read on Hoyatalk. Thank you for having shared your family's history. |
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Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 18,402
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Jun 7, 2020 13:16:57 GMT -5
My Dad took part in Operation Overlord, which began with D-Day June 6. He didn't go with the first wave, but eventually got over to France. He was already in Germany, when I was born. These were great brave men, who risked their lives, who were in the first wave.
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DallasHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,630
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Post by DallasHoya on Jun 7, 2020 22:48:18 GMT -5
Interesting - both my father (and I) grew up in Buffalo as well. Any opinion (yours or maybe your father’s) on the accuracy of Frank Snepp’s Decent Interval on the last days of Saigon? My father went to the University of Buffalo, a German major as he spent 3(?) years as part of the occupation force and learned the language. He worked with Frank Snepp. I have my father's annotated copy of the book (he's in it not by name but identified only by a vague description). Generally, a correct history setting aside Snepp's narcissism. My father was a Cold Warrior, a Republican, and he didn't believe in cutting and running. He rolled into Berlin victorious in WWII and at the zenith of American power in 20th century. It disgusted him that the Agency and USG couldn't honor our promise to evacuate the local personnel when Saigon fell, the nadir of American power. One of the last things he did was distribute US dollars to his "locals" with an Agency number to call if they survived and somehow got out of Vietnam. My junior year at Georgetown we had one of his "locals" and her family living in the basement of our house as we had sponsored them out of Indiantown Gap, PA, relocation camp. When he retired, we had to persuade him to attend his own retirement ceremony to receive the Career Intelligence Medal from DCI William Colby. He was quite bitter about the way that war ended. I've read many books about the evacuation and there is an excellent film about it, "The Last Days of Saigon" which has some excellent interviews of some of the last folks out. www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lastdays/By sheer coicidence. I was part of the DOJ defense team when the US was sued over the tragic Operation Babylift C-5A crash before the fall of Saigon. I also went back to Buffalo when I defended the US in an environmental law suit arising out of contamination at the Lake Ontario Ordinance Works. PS I visited Alsace-Lorraine four years ago where my father fought and visited the American Cemetary in Epinal. He was in the 16th Ordinance Maintenance Company, Third Army. My plans to visit Normandy this summer were scuttled by the pandemic. Your father must have been one tough guy to have fought at Saint-Lo. Your Buffalonian father learned German while in the army and was a republican. My Buffalonian father learned French while in the army and was a democrat (at least until after Jimmy Carter). Interesting parallels. |
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SSHoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown."
Posts: 18,216
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Post by SSHoya on Jun 8, 2020 10:56:40 GMT -5
My father went to the University of Buffalo, a German major as he spent 3(?) years as part of the occupation force and learned the language. He worked with Frank Snepp. I have my father's annotated copy of the book (he's in it not by name but identified only by a vague description). Generally, a correct history setting aside Snepp's narcissism. My father was a Cold Warrior, a Republican, and he didn't believe in cutting and running. He rolled into Berlin victorious in WWII and at the zenith of American power in 20th century. It disgusted him that the Agency and USG couldn't honor our promise to evacuate the local personnel when Saigon fell, the nadir of American power. One of the last things he did was distribute US dollars to his "locals" with an Agency number to call if they survived and somehow got out of Vietnam. My junior year at Georgetown we had one of his "locals" and her family living in the basement of our house as we had sponsored them out of Indiantown Gap, PA, relocation camp. When he retired, we had to persuade him to attend his own retirement ceremony to receive the Career Intelligence Medal from DCI William Colby. He was quite bitter about the way that war ended. I've read many books about the evacuation and there is an excellent film about it, "The Last Days of Saigon" which has some excellent interviews of some of the last folks out. www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lastdays/By sheer coicidence. I was part of the DOJ defense team when the US was sued over the tragic Operation Babylift C-5A crash before the fall of Saigon. I also went back to Buffalo when I defended the US in an environmental law suit arising out of contamination at the Lake Ontario Ordinance Works. PS I visited Alsace-Lorraine four years ago where my father fought and visited the American Cemetary in Epinal. He was in the 16th Ordinance Maintenance Company, Third Army. My plans to visit Normandy this summer were scuttled by the pandemic. Your father must have been one tough guy to have fought at Saint-Lo. Your Buffalonian father learned German while in the army and was a republican. My Buffalonian father learned French while in the army and was a democrat (at least until after Jimmy Carter). Interesting parallels. He was in German honor society at UB. To carry the parallel further, my father would likely have quit GOP when Trump was cozying up with Putin. |
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